some much needed rest- marathon week 5

[I was coming off of my 6x800's on Friday and my Long 12 miles on Sunday, with an easy 6 sandwiched between.]

M: Easy 6

Tu: Track, 5x1k's... goal to be at about 7-8 miles

W: REST

Thu: Tempo 6 mi (Goal marathon pace [GMP] is 8:12)

Fr: Easy 6

Sa: Easy 8

Sun: Easy 8

... so this week, I wouldn't really be increasing my miles too much, it was more of a "cut back" week- I was expecting I'd get at least 35 miles in.

M: Easy run actually WAS NOT easy because I had to slog through it on the treadmill. I was excitedly putting on my running clothes as I heard a loud crack of thunder, tried to wait it out, but no. It wasn't until mile 2 on the treadmill that the sun came out. I think i hung on for a 9:30 pace, with no incline, for all 6 miles. I have not become a fan of the TM.

Tu: I was reading Hanson's book and reading about swapping runs, as I did my track work Friday last week. It said that you should try and have at least 5 days between track workouts, 5 days between long runs and 5 days between tempo runs. They're all effectively teaching your body different things so you can have all 3 in one week, but you don't want to "over-do" it and have two of the same type of runs too close together. Made me scratch my head. It was also wicked hot out and I wasn't excited about spending over an hour on a track that absorbs all the heat of the day, with little shade. I thought the trails offered lots more shade and hopefully a cooler overall temperature. Also, I was tired as heck! So, you can read about my tempo run here. I did it, slower than planed but 7 miles overall, 6 mi at 8:20 pace average. It was 88 with 78% humidity. Gahh.

W: Thanks to a thunderstorm, I was on the TM again. Once again, trying to wait it out while doing some yoga (to stretch out my back, it was really tight!) to no avail, still storms. It sucked, again. But the gym was less busy and I felt happy that I was being SAFE. I listened to moderately interesting podcasts. I contemplated doing more, but I really wanted to go home and eat.

Th: Waking up, I thought about how I SHOULD have run in the morning because it was aboslutely pleasant and 70 degrees. Darn! I ended up having a terrible, awful run (you can read more about it here). I got 7 miles in but the repeats were wrong. It probably would've helped if I knew I was doing 1000's and not 1200's! I didn't discover this until a reader pointed it out to me later. Well, 7 miles is 7 miles...!

Fri/Sat/Sun [NRR]: I ended up taking three rest days. Whoops, I actually don't even feel guilty about it, either. I drove 5.5 hours Friday to visit the bf and get to spend time with him and his mom. Skipped my friday AM run.

Saturday morning I spent a good 4 hours walking around Home Depot and Lowes and several other home-rennovation places with my boyfriend and his mom, and I was pooped. He could tell, so he had us stop for some snacks and head home to re-coup before we went to a friend's party-- yes, this guy is a keeper. They had a wood-burning pizza food truck cater. It was AWESOME!

I didn't get a run in Sunday... we didn't get as much done at all.. but I did look at some diamond rings with the bf while I got my earrings cleaned.... It was nice to have some time with the BF, even with his mom there, we've been sort of struggling since July started- he's been busy at work, I've been exhausted and snippy, he's buying a house (for US), he's been planning his brother's bachelor party which is this weekend in Texas, he's also IN his friends wedding NEXT month, and it has just been hard for us to both connect- which honestly has been stressing me out too much (i stress a lot!)- i think Marathon Training has me exhausted, crabby and making me a bit of a brat... So this improptu weekend was really nice for us.

I intended run on the treadmill when I got back home Sunday evening. My drive was only 5:40:00... but I got back at 10:50pm and it was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do. But of course the caffination I had used to keep me awake on my drive prevented me from falling asleep before 1am. Sigh.

I only ran 25 miles this week but it was also a cut back week and I have 3 more intense weeks before taking another cutback while I travel for work and then a wedding with the BF so I think it is time to buckle down and focus on ME. Happy Monday!

This heat and humidity is a killer, can't wait till the fall and cooler temps. I'm going to be having a cutback week coming up to, it happens and sounds like it is far out enough from the marathon to be more of a positive then a negative!

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